I’ve only just come across Ernst Tugendhat. He’s German, and a philosopher. There’s a rather good interview with him here, and via that, I came across this excellent piece that he wrote examining religion as a human need. It’s a very good exploration of an aspect of what Daniel Dennett calls the "belief in belief".
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Mary’s At It Again
Mary Midgely, that is. And by "it", I mean a total misrepresentation of the views of Richard Dawkins. There’s a piece in today’s Independent which seems to show that, almost thirty years on from her crass misunderstanding of Dawkins’ The Selfish Gene, she still hasn’t learnt anything and continues to peddle falsehoods. I’m almost inclined to believe that the term "moral philosopher" is an oxymoron in her particular case.Leave a comment
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Quite
Jason Kottke Makes a good point. I’ve just been reading Rupert Everett’s Red Carpets and Other Banana Skins, and while I grant that he writes well, the milieu that he describes I find singularly repulsive.Leave a comment
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History Repeats
Joel Spolsky writes about software development, among other things. His current article is well worth reading. In summary, it says, in effect, that those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. My money is on him being proved right. Those of us who have been in the business for a long time can see the signs, but Spolsky spins the story to show the writing on the wall for all to see.Leave a comment
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Love In A Cold Climate
Except, of course, because of climate change, it’s the warmth-loving species that are thriving. The Central Bureau of Statistics in the Netherlands has the graph to show it.Leave a comment
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Goalpost Shifting
Jesus and Mo engineer a win-win situation. Or at least, that’s what they think. They clearly seem to have forgotten that in real life, the house always wins…Leave a comment
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Prinsjesdag 2007
Today was the day when Queen Beatrix formally opened the Dutch Parliament. Prinsjesdag, as it’s called, is similar to the State Opening of the British Parliament – an excuse for pomp and circumstance, and a chance to hear both queens (Beatrix and Betty) lay out the plans of their respective governments.We watched the proceedings on telly, beginning with the royal entourage processing in a variey of horse-drawn carriages from Noordeinde Palace to the Binnenhof (the Dutch Parliament buildings), and then watching the Queen’s speech from the throne in the Ridderzaal (Knights’ Hall).What I really adore about living in the Netherlands is the way you get suckered into thinking that things are just the same as in the UK, but then something sneaks up on you and slaps your brain awake to make you realise that, no, they do things differently here. So there I was, watching the procession, with the gilded coach and the over-the-top liveries, and listening to the Dutch commentator droning on. And just as I was settling down to thinking how like the home-life of our own dear queen this was, I snapped awake as I suddenly realised that the commentator appeared to be giving medical histories of the Dutch Royal Family. Had she really just said that Pieter van Vollenhoven had been treated for cancer of the foreskin, and that while he would have regular checkups from now on, his doctors were confident that the treatment had been successful? Yes, I do believe that she had… Perhaps not so like the home life of our own dear queen, after all…Leave a comment
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Hox Genes and Manx Cats
PZ Myers has a wonderfully clear post on what we currently know about the Hox genes, and how they influence animal morphology. Loren Petrich, in the comments thread, points out that mutation has occurred to produce the tailless Manx cat. Fascinating stuff.Leave a comment
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Note To Self…
…If I ever do end up contemplating suicide, then using a crossbow is probably not a good method. Dorothy Parker should have included it in her Resume.Leave a comment
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The Accident
There was a road accident involving a car and a bus in London’s Tower Hamlets last Saturday night. Here’s the view from 30,000 feet, as reported by the BBC News.And here’s the view reported at ground level by Tom Reynolds. Tom speaks directly to each of us, and makes us stop to pause and reflect.Leave a comment
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Life’s Rich Tapestry
As I’ve said before, families come in all shapes and sizes. Here’s Layla Kumari writing about her plans to marry Gian and raise a family. What makes their part of life’s tapestry a little more technicolour than most is that she is lesbian and Hindu, and he is a gay Sikh. Good luck to them both, I wish them well.Leave a comment
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A Bit of Excitement
Yesterday evening there was hardly any wind and it was quiet. I was woken from a post-prandial snooze by a roar. It turned out to be the flames of a hot-air balloon coming in for a landing.
They had a nice evening for it…
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Autumn’s Arriving
I can’t help but notice a definite chill in the air when I walk the dog in the morning…
Kai’s noticing it as well…
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Another Country
Jean Kazez worries about those around her. I’m glad I don’t live where she does.Leave a comment
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Steve Ditko
Jonathon Ross has an article in today’s Guardian talking about his passion for the work of comic-book artist Steve Ditko. It’s also by way of an introduction to a programme that Ross has made on Ditko that will be broadcast on BBC Four this coming Sunday.I remember the name Steve Ditko from my youth. I bought comics starting in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and, like Ross, adored the style of Ditko’s art. It’s funny, but I don’t recall specifically buying any Spider-Man comics (the work for which Ditko is most famous). I may well have grown out of comics by that time. I think I must have been avidly consuming comics such as Strange Tales and Amazing Adventures.Leave a comment
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Luscious Libraries
This verges on book pornography for me. I long to be present in these libraries. The only ones that I’ve managed to visit are the Boston and UC Berkley libraries. I see that the Netherlands has a couple of candidates – those I have to see. But, oh, isn’t the library in Rio simply to die for?Leave a comment
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Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter was (IMHO) Britain’s greatest TV playwright. A short extract from his last interview, with Melvyn Bragg, recorded in March 1994 is available here. I have a recording of the complete interview, which always moves me to tears of both joy and sadness. Potter remained impish to the end, and the sight of him swigging morphine from his hip flask while explaining the elaborate joke that he was to play on the TV companies with his final broadcast work always makes me smile. A great human being.Update: here’s another extract from an interview with Potter – this time conducted by Alan Yentob. Not as good as with Bragg, but by god, the force that was Dennis Potter still shines through.Leave a comment
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